Vanity #1 by Martine Brisson

“‘My starting point was the old drawing of a piece of furniture from the 1920s. My purpose was to extract its essence and to find its first pencil stroke, to strip it down to its naked body, all the way through to the skeleton of the original drawing. I wanted to represent the strength of the structure whilst preserving its frail and elegant lines. To do so, I had to find the appropriate material, one that would translate the simplicity of the project, and I found that metal was the best medium. With its brute force, the lightness of the line and its simplicity could be kept as well as the origins of my concept. It was also necessary to find the good calibration, not too thick in order to avoid losing the lightness desired yet strong enough to support the weight of several types of plateau. It was important to find the right balance and to allow the plateau to work towards supporting itself.’

The plateau of the ‘coiffeuse’ gives the whole character to the piece of furniture; with a panel of wengé, the piece echoes the desk of an Englishman, whilst a colored panel of lacquer rings of Circassian’s vanity.

The main challenge was to insure the skeleton of the piece remained the same regardless of its dress, to keep a fine and elegant silhouette not unlike that of a praying mantis.” martinebrisson.ca